Aracely Serrano Ayala said she felt her world was ending several times in the last three months.
After living and working in the U.S. for more than a decade, the 35-year-old resident of Plainfield, New Jersey, and her partner, Marcos Guardado, began to live in fear because they were undocumented immigrants. The Salvadoran couple never started the process of seeking a green card.
As the Trump administration increased its deportation efforts, in March they decided to embark on a journey to Canada with their two daughters and apply for asylum there, where Serrano’s brother is a citizen.
“We wanted a better future, to legalize our status and continue working,” said Serrano, “but the United States gave us no hope.”
Serrano said nothing prepared her and her family for being turned away twice at the Canadian border, detained by U.S. immigration authorities and separated from her husband for several weeks, after he was transferred to an Immigration and Customs Enforcement detention center.
Serrano and her family are now living legally in Canada, but their story illustrates the complexities of the immigration and the asylum process, both in the U.S. and Canada.
“We just wanted to get out of the country and never imagined we would go through all this,” she says, her voice breaking.
An opportunity in Canada – and unexpected setbacks
Under the 2015 Safe Third Country Agreement (STCA) between Canada and the United States, asylum-seekers must seek protection in the first safe country they arrive in. That is, if someone enters the U.S. first and meets the requirements, they must begin their asylum application there and cannot do so in Canada, and vice versa.
However, there are exceptions in the agreement. If a person enters Canadian territory from the U.S. and can prove they have a close relative in the country who meets certain requirements (being of legal age, having Canadian citizenship or being a permanent resident, among other conditions), the person can enter the country and is allowed to begin their asylum application.
“I was hopeful because I know this agreement exists — and my brother had been there for 20 years,” Serrano said.
But when the family got to the Canadian border, issues with documentation and even a misunderstanding over how last names are used in Latin America prevented them from being allowed into Canada and led to their detention in the U.S., illustrating the difficulties around migration and entry into another country.
Serrano said that when she and he family crossed the Rainbow Bridge into Canada, “our dream of entering the country had collapsed,” as Canadian border officials flagged several issues with their Salvadoran documents.
One of the birth certificates had a mistake regarding Serrano’s mother’s name, Serrano’s Canadian attorney, Heather Neufeld, said. Though there was a correction note in the margins, the border officials didn’t pay attention to that and thought there was a discrepancy in their names, so they didn’t accept it,” Neufeld said in an interview.
The attorney added that another aspect complicating the process was that on one document, Serrano’s father appeared with only one of his surnames, while on other documents, he had both.
“The [Canadian] officers didn’t understand that in Latin America, people have two last names, but sometimes only one appears on the documents. So they thought they were fake. It was a series of errors made by border officials, when in fact, they were legitimate documents,” Neufeld said.
Telemundo Noticias requested comment from the Canada Border Security Agency on the Serrano and Guardado case. Although authorities declined to comment on the Salvadoran family’s case out of respect for their privacy, Luke Reimer, a spokesperson for the agency, said in a statement that port-of-entry officials are the ones who determine whether the evidence demonstrates that the asylum-seeker is subject to the Canada-United States Agreement.
After the couple was declared inadmissible, Canadian authorities deported them back to the U.S., where they were detained at a U.S. Customs and Border Protection facility.
“They checked our documents there at U.S. immigration and then took us to a cell. It was a place with no windows or bathroom. When we wanted to go to the bathroom, we had to tell them to take us,” said Serrano. She said they were held there for two weeks.
At the end of March, Serrano said, without warning, U.S. immigration agents sent them back to the Rainbow Bridge port of entry, but because they had the same papers, they were deported again to the U.S.
Serrano, Guardado and Neufeld said that neither U.S. nor Canadian authorities have explained who made the decision to take them back to the Canadian port of entry. This is important because generally people only have one opportunity to resubmit their case to authorities.
Noticias Telemundo contacted the Department of Homeland Security, ICE and CBP for comment on the case, but didn’t receive a response.
After the second deportation, Serrano and her daughters were separated from Guardado, who was transferred to an ICE detention center.
Guardado said he’d never been imprisoned in his life; “it was the first time that happened to me, and I was there for a month and a few days,” he said, adding that he only had a few minutes to say goodbye to his daughters.
However, things began to change. While Guardado was in detention, U.S. authorities placed Serrano in an electronic bracelet and released her along with her daughters. They spent a few days in a shelter in Buffalo, New York, and their case began to attract attention in the Canadian media. Neufeld then filed an official appeal with Canadian authorities.
“We submitted all the evidence with our arguments, but they sent us a one-sentence letter stating that they weren’t going to change their initial decision, so the only option left was a petition in federal court,” Neufeld said.
On May 5, the Canadian government agreed to allow Serrano and her two daughters to enter the country to begin the asylum application process. Meanwhile, Guardado remained detained in the U.S. and had to post a $12,000 bond to attend the interview with Canadian authorities to be able to reunite with his family.
They turned to their family and close friends, all from the same Salvadoran town as Serrano and Guardado. “They all raised the bail to get me out; some put up $50, others $500,” Guardado said. “Little by little, it all came together. I have a list of more than 500 people who helped me.”
Guardado recalled the day they told him he was entering Canada. “I was able to be with them and hug my crying girls,” Guardado said.
Serrano said the biggest difference she’s experienced living in Canada is a sense of security and freedom that comforts her. “We’re no longer afraid. Imagine having that freedom with my girls, to go anywhere, without the fear that they’ll find us and deport us without us committing any crime,” she said.
But while the family begins a new life in Canada, bad news continue to cloud their horizon. Guardado’s brother, Jaime — who’s married to a naturalized U.S. citizen from El Salvador and was planning to go back to El Salvador as part of his green card process — was detained in New Jersey and continues to be in ICE custody.
An earlier version of this story was first published in Noticias Telemundo.
